One day Paul Meurisse entered a flower shop whose signs encouraged customers to "SAY IT WITH FLOWERS."
Meurisse ordered a rose. "Just one," he explained, "to be delivered to this address with my card." "Is there any message?" the florist asked, picking out a lovely red specimen.
By way of reply, Meurisse, renowned for his taciturn nature, simply took the flower and plucked off all but two of its luxuriant petals. "There you are," he said, handing it back. "And even then, I wonder if I haven't said too much."
Sources
C. Fadiman, ed., Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes
